All the families listed under one of my grandparents names can be accessed by going to the main family name at the top and the menu will drop down

Lucys Family Tree is a new website for www.deyoungmatson.com. The webforwarding will only forward on the domain name, not on all the individual pages within the site. I apologize for any inconvenience, but I can not forward any other way. Not all the pages that were onwww.deyoungmatson.com have been recreated on this website yet. If you have done a search and an individual page has come up and you can’t find the information on this site or if there are families or information you would like to access please contact me atlucydeyoung@isomedia.com.

This site is still under construction. I have had an extensive website for many years, but lost the ability to access it and keep it updated. Consequently, I have had to rebuild the site. I think it will end up being a better site. However, this has been a multi-year task which isn’t done yet. If you want to access some of the information that hasn’t been uploaded yet, please contact me. If I have caused you any inconvenience, I apologize.

Introduction to my Family Genealogy

This web site is dedicated to my family history. It is a very interesting family and I am very honored to be part of it. My search began about 2001. I vividly remember sitting down with my Father’s only sister, my Aunt Anna Frances, pouring over a map of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri trying to find Green Forest, Arkansas and Golden, Missouri – the towns where my grandmother DeYoung (Priest) was born and raised. I remember talking about my Grandmother’s family and looking at the photographs my Aunt had. The names, places and people seemed so far away and long ago. Today, they are my long lost friends.

In my search I have learned I come from a very old family. The first family to come to this country was the Hawley family in 1641. The last family to come was the de Jong family in 1882, ten years before Ellis Island was opened. Before I knew my family history I remember going to Ellis Island and I couldn’t find any of my ancestors (or at least ancestors I knew of early in my journey), I was so disappointed. I smile at that now because I never would have guessed how proud I would become that we were all here before Ellis Island opened.

(My Mother’s maternal side – the Wilkersons – were at the Gilford Courthouse battle during the Revolution and they were early settlers at Boonesborough, Kentucky making them one of the earliest settlers of Kentucky, and then were some of the original settlers in Warren County, Ohio. They lived in Virginia before the Revolutionary War. The Wilkersons married into the Hawley>Halley and Simpson Families in Virginia in the 1700’s. James Hawley was my first ancestor to come to this country in 1641. It is hard to imagine this was only 20 years after the pilgrims landed and 40 years after Jamestown. What an adventurer he and his family must have been to leave what must have been a fairly comfortable life in England for an unknown country of hardships and Indians. These were incredible people.

My Mother’s paternal side – the Pembertons – were at Kings Mountain, a pivotal battle during the Revolutionary War and were early settlers in Tennessee and then Kentucky and Missouri.

My Father’s maternal side – the Priests, Jameses, Abneys, Smiths, and Deans – moved from Virginia and North Carolina to Appalachia before 1810. They also were in the Revolutionary War. I am basically Welsh and English with just a touch of Dutch. My Abney family is very interesting in that we can trace that line back to one of the signers of the Magna Carta. I am speechless to know that one of my ancestors signed a document that is the foundation for our legal system.

In my search I have learned that James H. Wilkerson, John Pemberton, John Dean, Andrew Craig, William Farris, John Watson, Samuel Priest are all documented Revolutionary War soldiers with the DAR. I am a Daughter of the Revolution on three sides, although I am only a documented DAR through John Dean and James H. Wilkerson at this point in time. I was reading something the other day that less than five percent of the people in this country have ancestors who fought in the Revolution. So to have three sides of my family participate in the founding of this country is something of which I am very proud. I am sure there are more Revolutionary War veterans in my family since the James, Robertsons, Elmores, Abneys, Smiths, Strattons, Giddens and other were in this country during the Revolution.

The history of my family is that of settling of this country. As new territories opened up, my family moved to them. My ancestors settled Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Montana, California, and Washington. They were basically farmers by vocation. None were famous, they were all good, upstanding people. I am very proud of my family.

Since that first day with Aunt Anna Frances I have had the opportunity to travel to The Netherlands with my Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Jim and Cousin Terri. I was so happy we could do that before my Uncle Jim died in 2005. He and my Aunt travelled the world, but he told Dorothy the trip the The Netherlands was one of his favorites. Among other things we were able to see where my great great grandfather Hans Mennes de Jong, who brought the DeYoung’s to America, was born and to meet some of our Dutch close and distant relatives. They were wonderful. They provided us with so much information I will be eternally grateful. In addition I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet and start corresponding and sharing information with several of my Priest cousins in California, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Virginia and Rhode Island. In 2004 I had the opportunity to travel to Kentucky and Ohio visiting the Priest homestead in Floyd County, Kentucky and the Wilkerson cemetery at Spring Hill, Warren County, Ohio. It was wonderful. In October 2004 I went back to North Carolina, Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, and Eastern Kentucky where so many of my families were in the 1700’s. I was in North Carolina and Virginia again in the fall of 2006.

The fact that this circle is growing is what finally motivated my to start this web site. Since I want to share the information I have been collecting, this seemed like the most logical solution.

This is a work in progress. I do want to know about genealogical errors. I try to document my facts. I also include information from other peoples files. When I do, I put them down as the source. (I have gotten better about documentation as I have gone along – however, most of my Dutch de Jong information is not documented as it came from my Dutch relatives early on.) Also, I am not the best typist in the world and would appreciate knowing about any errors you find. I will be more than glad to add your information to my files. If you want it added pleased send me a GEDCOM file. Generally I don’t add a lot of information about descendants once removed from a direct descendant.

Finally, I am doing this site because I want to share information with my relatives. If you have information to share about my extended family I would love to hear from you. I don’t have time anymore to input data except for direct ancestors. If you would share your information in a GEDCOM I would really appreciate it. My email address is lucydeyoung@isomedia.com.